


When you find the ghost of your dead cousin haunting your friend's apartment, obviously you're going to get caught up in a paranormal investigation.

by Pineapple_Daddy



Category: Fire Emblem: Seisen no Keifu | Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ghosts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Or not, Tags May Change, Unreliable Narrator, but i know theyll show up because i have a plan, i couldn't think of a proper and snappy title, i think im using that tag right, it may change again depending on what happens, just know that it starts out from Ares' view but switches to Leif's as he's the mc, so deal with the regurgitated sentence i give you, some characters don't show up for awhile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:00:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26496025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pineapple_Daddy/pseuds/Pineapple_Daddy
Summary: It started when Ares said he was getting haunted. He was too much of a hard ass to lie about something like that, but still, it was hard to believe. That's why Leif decided they needed to prove it by messing with a Ouija board. Somehow, that ended up getting both of them and their friends caught in a decade long investigation that was responsible for the deaths of both a father and son and now Leif is determined to see it through to the end.
Relationships: Aless | Ares & Leen | Lene, Aless | Ares & Leif Faris Claus, Altena & Leif Faris Claus, Celice | Seliph & Leif Faris Claus, Leif Faris Claus & Nanna, basically everyone is super best friends and im not gonna tag it all
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	1. First Encounter

**Author's Note:**

> i wasn't planning on posting this until I was completely done with it, but i was dumb and ended up not splitting it into chapters on my google docs. long story short, ive already got 40 pages and have barely gotten anywhere because of all the ideas I keep coming up with, so I'm going to post the stuff I do have hear in order to get a better feel for how these chapters are going to be split.
> 
> My upload schedule is crap, as usual, so you've been warned.

“So… You think you’re being haunted?”

Now that he heard it being said back at him, Ares thought he was crazy more than anything. “I know it sounds weird, but I can’t think of any other explanation for what’s been going on lately,” he explained. For the past month or so, he’s had an inexplicable feeling like someone’s living in his apartment with him. Nothing bad has come from it, so far. Still didn’t stop it from being undeniably freaky though when he’d wake up to rearranged furniture and the smell of bacon being cooked.

“Aren’t ghosts normally supposed to be, y’know, malevolent or something?,” Leif asked.

“I guess, but whatever’s fucking with me certainly isn’t that,” Ares said. “It’s like an overly nice roommate more than anything. I haven’t had to do any chores in what feels like forever. The ghost even does my laundry for me and my apartment doesn’t even have a washer or dryer. I have to go to the laundromat across the street for that. It’s weird as hell.”

“At least they aren’t destroying everything that isn’t nailed to the floor.”

“True. Don’t like it regardless.”

Just explaining the situation to Leif for the past thirty minutes gave Ares a chill that ran down his spine. There were very few things that he could say he was afraid of or even merely unsettled by, but there was just something inherently creepy about some unknown person freely moving about your own home. The worst part though, was that because Ares didn’t know who- or rather, what- was doing this, he couldn’t do anything about it.

“And you’re sure it’s some paranormal shenanigans and not, like, a crazy stalker who sneaks into your apartment just to play house with you?,” Leif asked. 

“That is absolutely ridiculous. Who would even go out of their way to do that kind of shit?”

“You’d be surprised how insane people can be. One quick google search and you can find dozens of stories where random strangers would hole themselves up in crawl spaces built into other people’s homes and live there for years.”

“There’s one problem with that. My apartment has no crawl spaces, I checked,” Ares pointed out.

“Maybe they come in through the window?,” Leif suggested.

“I live on the fifth floor.”

“Oh, right. Duh!,” Leif said, knocking himself on the head. “Don’t know how I forgot that. I guess I’m just finding it hard to believe there’s a ghost haunting you. Honestly, the idea that you're playing an elaborate joke on me and the truth being that you’re dating Lene and she’s doing all this stuff sounds more realistic to me.”

It was at that precise moment that Ares wished he was telling Lene about this instead. She was much more sensible and realistic, and by that he meant she’d just believe him and immediately get to work on a solution. But instead, Ares had to accidentally press Leif’s name in his phone’s contact list and call him about it. He will forever curse the fact that his only two friends happened to be next to each in his contacts due to their names being arranged alphabetically.

“If we could get back to the topic at hand,” Ares said, barely managing to not growl the sentence, “we need to figure out a way to get rid of this ghost.”

“Honestly, I don’t think you should really do anything about it,” Leif admitted, leaning back in his chair. “It’s not like they’re doing anything bad, in fact you completely benefit from their presence.”

“But what if the ghost suddenly decides it’s done playing housewife and becomes more violent?”

“...You have a point there. Ghosts can be unpredictable like that.”

Ares sighed at his friend’s way too lax attitude. “So, do you have any ideas, then?”

“Hm, well we could always do an exorcism and force the ghost out that way. Though, if it doesn’t work it might make the ghost angry,” Leif suggested.

“How do we go about doing an exorcism?,” Ares asked.

“Well, in movies, they always perform some kind of ritual with different ones being used either for possession or just a general haunting, like yours. A lot of times, a priest is called in to perform the ritual,” Leif explained.

“That sounds stupid. And like a scam. We’re not doing that.”

“Ok, then we could hire a medium and have them communicate with the ghost and ask them what they want.”

“Also sounds like a scam.”

“How about a ouija board? Then we could talk to the ghost ourselves, no scammers involved.”

“Isn’t that a children’s board game?”

“Do you want to get rid of the ghost or not?,” Leif sighed, exasperated with Ares’ stubbornness.

“Obviously I want it gone, or else I wouldn’t have called you over here or paid for security cameras.”

“Don’t lie, I know you wanted to talk to Le- wait, did you say ‘security cameras’?”

Ares forgot that he neglected to mention that part when he was explaining the whole situation, but it was true. He did buy security cameras about a week ago to see if he could catch anything on the recording. If it weren’t for the footage he caught, he would’ve continued to believe it was an actual person messing with him. But the footage proved otherwise and it was the first thing to genuinely scare him in a long while. 

“Make fun of me and you’re dead, but yes, I did,” Ares said as he pulled out his phone and opened the gallery app. “I wanted to get proof someone was breaking into my apartment so I could take them to court, but the footage I got was completely contradictory to the idea of an everyday intruder.”

“Oh, I have got to see this!,” Leif said as he scooted his chair closer to Ares. 

The two were practically squished together as Ares pressed play on a short forty second video. The camera’s angle gave a perfect shot of the kitchenette in Ares’s apartment, all the lights off and seemingly no one home. Yet the dirty dishes were somehow levitating mid-air as they were being cleaned by an invisible force. This went on until the last few seconds of the video where the dishes were unceremoniously dropped, clattering and splashing into the sink water. Almost immediately afterwards, Ares opened the door in the video and turned the lights on. That was where the video ended.

A moment of silence and then a, “What the fuck,” from Leif. “Yeah, you are definitely haunted.”

“That’s what I’ve been explaining to you for the past half an hour,” Ares said with a not-so-subtle “you’re an idiot” tone.

“Oh come one! How could you expect anyone to just automatically believe something like that?”

Ares opened his mouth to rebuttal, but he had to admit he agreed with Leif’s point, and so nothing came out.

“Hah! See? You can’t!,” Leif said as he scooted away and pulled out his own phone. “Anyways, I don’t care if you think it’s stupid, we’ve gotta get rid of this ghost somehow.”

“Wait, who are you calling?,” Ares asked, but Leif only held up a finger as though to shush him.

Holding his phone up to his ear, Leif spoke, “Hey, Nanna? You have a ouija board right?”

Ares was instantly pissed off as he knew exactly what Leif was planning. This whole thing was supposed to be between just them, another reason Ares wished he had called Lene like he meant to do. “Hang up that damn phone right now! You are not involving my cousin in this!,” he shouted, practically climbing over the table to try and forcibly grab the phone out of Leif’s grasp.

But Leif simply stepped out of the way and continued to talk as though he weren’t about to be mauled to death by his own friend. “What? Oh, yeah I’m at Ares’ place right now. Anyways, about that ouija board…” Ares tried to tackle him or even simply grab him, but to no avail. Leif continued to practically dance just out of his range, like they were playing some sort of game of cat and mouse. And Ares was losing.

“Oh? What’s that? Your mother owned a ouija board? That’s perfect!,” Leif said in a sing-song tone just to mess with Ares some more. “Listen, if you can find it, you should bring it over to Ares’ apartment. And bring Lene with you, too. I’ll explain what this is all about when you get here, but just know it’s really important and Ares’ life is on the line.”

“I’ll skin you alive if you do not shut up this instant!”

“No, I’m sure it’s Ares’s life on the line, not mine,” Leif continued, “I promise Nanna. Just… get over here quickly. See you in a bit, then? … Alright, see ya.” And then he hung up.

“You are a dead man,” Ares warned.

“So you like being haunted so much you wanted a second ghost to keep you company?,” Leif replied sarcastically.

Ares wanted to fire back his own sarcastic response, but both of them had their attention stolen by a rather loud clatter. Both boys whipped their heads to look at where they had been sitting not even five minutes earlier. There on the table, in front of where Ares had sat, was where a kitchen knife had been dropped. A rather sharp and big kitchen knife at that. Any sense that it was just the two of them joking around with each other like they always had completely disappeared.

Neither Leif nor Ares said anything, but the look they shared let them know the time for fun and games was over.

~~~

“Alright, what was so serious that you needed us to come over and bring a ouija board for?,” Nanna asked the second Ares opened the door. She was accompanied by Lene, as Leif had asked, both girls sharing a worried expression and wanting an answer.

Ares sighed and stepped out of the way. “You’re going to want to come in for this,” he said rather cryptically. “Have a seat.”

The girls walked in and took their place on Ares’ couch, giving Leif their hellos as he brought over two more chairs. Leif and Ares took the two chairs as their seats, sitting across from the girls with a coffee table separating them.

“You brought the ouija board, right?,” Leif asked, tone completely serious.

“Yes, I did,” Nanna said as she pulled the game in question from her purse, the box taking up all of its space and then some, “but why did you need it?”

“And for that matter, why did you invite me as well?,” Lene asked. “What’s going on?”

“Ok, so long story short, Ares is being haunted by some weird ghost and we need to get rid of them,” Leif summarized. “We need the ouija board to talk to the ghost and I asked for Lene because I know Ares would feel better if she was here.”

Ares blushed and scowled at Leif’s rather blunt explanation. “The story is a bit longer than that…”

“Yeah, but you’ll take forever to tell it again,” Leif pointed out.

“Oh, not going to argue that Lene’s presence is a comfort for you?,” Nanna commented with her light yet teasing tone.

Lene herself chuckled softly. “Aw, I’m touched. I always knew you were a bit of a softy deep down.”

“Can we please get back on track?!,” Ares shouted more than asked, his embarrassment getting the better of him. The other three laughed at his outburst, but it came from good-natured tomfoolery and they heeded his request right after.

“Alright, so the plan is kind of terrible, but the idea is that we ask the ghost what it wants and then see if we can convince it to leave,” Leif said, getting the conversation back to the main point.

“So, then what do we do?,” Lene asked. “I’ve never used a ouija board before.”

“The game comes with instructions,” Nanna said as she opened the box and set out the board and planchette. She unfolded a paper with the directions written on it and started reading, “When performing a seance, all participants must put one finger each on the edge of the planchette. It is recommended that you do NOT perform a seance alone as that is when you are most vulnerable to possession. Never insult the spirit you are communicating with and be mindful of the questions you ask. You may not be ready for the answer. Assign a leader to communicate with the spirit. All other players must remain completely silent. When ending a seance, always say goodbye to end communication. If a spirit starts counting down, spells the alphabet, draws a figure eight, or introduces themself as ‘Zozo’, say goodbye and end communication immediately as you have connected with a malevolent spirit. And that should be it for the rules.”

“That doesn’t sound too bad,” Lene said.

“The question is whether or not it works,” Nanna replied as she folded the rule page back up and set it to the side. “I know my mother used it to try speaking with… with Uncle Eldigan after he passed away, but it didn’t work.”

A silence hung over the group as Nanna’s words sunk in, the four of them giving a small respect in honor of Ares’ late father. But they still had work to do and they couldn’t be deterred this easily. “That’s a shame, but I’m certain it’ll work this time,” Leif said. “After all, we’ve got undeniable proof the ghost exists!”

“You do?,” Lene asked.

Ares pulled out his phone as he did earlier and showed the girls the video he had gotten and once it was done playing Leif added, “That video right there is proof. Plus, the ghost indirectly threatened me. I think.”

“How would it indirectly threaten you?,” Nanna asked.

“You heard me yelling at Leif from your end of the phone call, right?,” Ares asked.

Nanna nodded. “I believe you threatened to kill him.”

“Well, after you two hung up, I told Leif he was a dead man-”

“And then I made a joke about him wanting another ghost for company and then bam! Just like that a kitchen knife was dropped out of nowhere onto the table. Almost like it was giving Ares a weapon to actually kill me with,” Leif finished. “Either the ghost has a sick sense of humor or they actually thought Ares was serious.”

“If they thought he was serious, then that leaves the question, why would they help Ares?,” Lene asked. 

“It’s done more than that, too,” Ares explained. “For the past month it’s been doing all of my chores for me while I’m either away from the apartment or asleep. At first, I thought it was my imagination, but then it became too frequent so I thought it was an intruder, and then that video I showed you made me believe it was some kind of spirit haunting me. The strangest part though, is that it’s never done anything while I was around until it dropped that knife.”

“Hm, do you think it could be anyone you knew that would want to care for you even after death?,” Lene tried, though she knew it was a strange and unlikely idea.

“Unless my father decided he wanted to be my paranormal housewife, then no,” Ares answered sarcastically.

“Listen, the whole reason we’re all here and surrounding a ouija board is so we can just ask the ghost directly,” Leif pointed out impatiently.

“Alright, let’s get started then,” Nanna said. “I’ll be the leader and communicate with the spirit. Everyone ready?”

The group gave each other a definitive nod and each placed one finger on the planchette placed in the center of the board. “Good afternoon spirit, my name is Nanna,” she started. “My friends are Lene, Leif, and Ares. We mean you no harm, we just wish to ask a few questions. Please, if you are there, what is your name?”

For a moment that felt like it stretched on forever, nothing seemed to happen. Just when Ares was about to voice his complaint that this was a stupid waste of time, the planchette started moving on it’s own, earning soft gasps of surprise from everyone present. First it moved to S, then E-L-I-P-H. Seliph. That was the spirit's name.

“It’s nice to meet you, Seliph,” Nanna said with a gentle smile though she couldn’t see the ghost in question. How she was staying so calm when they were talking to an actual dead spirit, Ares had no idea, but he wasn’t allowed to speak and ask for the time being. 

“Did you know Ares before you died?,” Nanna continued.

The planchette moved to spell M-A-Y-B-E. Everyone gave each other a confused glance.

“Then why are you haunting him?

A minute passed. And then another. And then another, and still no answer was given.

“Um, if you don’t want to answer that’s ok…,” Nanna said, though she sounded disappointed. “Is there something you want?”

The planchette moved to yes.

“What is it that you want?”

Again, there was no answer, so Nanna asked another, simpler question.

“Can we help you get what you want?”

Again, the planchette looped back to yes.

“What is it that we can do to help?”

There was a pause and then the planchette began moving to spell a word. B-O-D-Y. Body. A single word, but one that carried an incredible weight to it. The ghost needed a body to accomplish whatever it wanted to do. But between the four of them, nobody knew exactly how they were supposed to give a dead spirit a body. And if they were to offer up a body, there was no way it could end with anything good.

“H-How…,” Nanna started, but she hesitated and decided against whatever she was going to say, instead asking, “Why did you die?”

Though the planchette shook, there was no answer.

“What do you regret about life?,” Nanna tried. Maybe she thought that regret was what was keeping the spirit here.

But still, there was no answer.

“Do you know anything about why you’re here? We want to help you, but we don’t know how.”

No answer.

“Please, answer us,” she said, almost pleading with the spirit. “We just want to help you move on.”

The planchette began moving again. S-O-R-R-Y, it said. It spelled the word no less than six times, each one with increasing speed before it abruptly stopped. The sound of the planchette sliding across the board was quickly replaced by the quiet sound of crying and sniffling. Three heads looked around frantically before realizing it was the fourth member of their little group that was crying.

Ares, Nanna, and Lene watched with panic and worry as Leif cried before them with no warning.

“I’m sorry,” Leif said between soft sobs. “I’m so sorry… I can’t remember. I want to remember, but I can’t.”

Ares couldn’t take it anymore and blurted out, “Nanna, what the hell is going on?! Why is Leif suddenly going mental?!”

“Leif? Leif, are you ok?,” Lene asked, trying to get Leif to respond to her, but it wasn’t working

“I- I don’t know! We need to end the conversation right now!,” Nanna declared.

Heeding the urgency in her voice, Ares and Lene joined Nanna in saying goodbye to the spirit before they took their fingers off the planchette. Leif did not follow suit, instead passing out immediately, slumping over and hitting his head on the table in the process. Like a switch being flipped, his crying stopped instantly as well. What followed after was a slight rumbling of the apartment and the flickering of lights before everything settled back to normal.

“What. The. Fuck,” Ares said after what felt like much too long a pause. “The ghost was useless as hell and Leif went completely mental. Fucking with this god forsaken board was a mistake.”

Nanna, for her part, looked shaken to the core after the short but surreal experience and was lost in thought trying to figure out what had just taken place. Lene looked more calm and coherent, but she was still clearly unsettled as well. “Do… Do you think the spirit tried to possess Leif?,” Lene asked, sounding scared though she tried to hide it.

“Well, that would explain some things, at least,” Ares said, trying to keep the atmosphere calm and controlled despite the eerie vague answers they were given and an out-of-commission Leif right next to him.

“I think we should wait until Leif is awake to talk about this,” Nanna suggested. “If he really was possessed there, even for a moment, then we need to know what it was like for him.”

She was right on that point. Even if Leif didn’t have any more answers than the other three, there had to be something they could learn from him. There had to be some reason he started crying and speaking so cryptically for no reason. And so, they all waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know this chapter was largely focused around Ares' perspective, but after this it's going to largely be Leif's with few exceptions. I just want to make it clear that Leif is the protagonist because I know the way I wrote the first chapter doesn't make that very clear.
> 
> Anyways, thank you for reading and any feedback would be welcome!


	2. Second Encounter; Questions Unveiled

When Leif woke up, he jolted upright so fast it gave him a headache. Or further agitated the headache he already had. Either one could be true, he didn’t care. “Ugh, what happened?,” he groaned. “Why do I feel like I was hit by a truck?”

“So you are still alive. Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Ares said sarcastically from his place at the kitchen table. Nanna and Lene were also seated at the table on either side of him. “Or rather, good evening I suppose.”

Leif wanted to fire back about that “sleeping beauty” comment, but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. Instead, he simply threw a couch cushion at Ares (he missed sadly) and glanced out the window to see that it was practically nighttime with barely any daylight left at all. “Hold up, how long was I out for?”

“About five hours. If it weren’t for the current circumstances, I’d almost be impressed by your little power nap,” Ares said as he moved something on the table.

“How are you feeling?,” Nanna asked gently.

“Aside from the splitting headache I have? Fine. I’ve felt worse, at least,” Leif explained. It was then that he noticed Lene also move something on the table before she drew a card from a deck. It almost looked like the three of them were… “Wait, are you guys playing a board game? Without me?!”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Lene said, but she didn’t sound sorry. “Waiting around for you to wake up was taking forever, so we started playing Monopoly to pass the time.”

“I wanted to play Cards Against Humanity…,” Ares grumbled bitterly.

“For the last time, we are not playing a game as crass as that one!,” Nanna shouted as though they already had this argument several times.

“Oh come on! It’s not that bad, you stick in the mud!,” Ares shouted back. “Lene’ll at least play it with me.”

“Hey, don’t bring me into this!”

“Even so, you can’t play it without a third person,” Nanna argued. “And I will not play it. Ever.”

“If you shoved a coal up your ass, it’d become a diamond in a week with how stuck-up you are,” Ares fired.

Lene seemed entirely unphased as the arguing continued on like that for several minutes, however all the noise was starting to agitate Leif’s headache even more. “For the love of god, could you both shut the fuck up for five seconds?!,” he yelled. Immediately, the two cousins stopped arguing with each other and calmed down, Nanna clearly more embarrassed than Ares, but both of them seemed to be at least a little ashamed of their behavior.

“Thank you,” Leif continued, “now ignoring the game for a minute, can someone explain what happened after I blacked out? The last thing I remember is the ghost writing ‘sorry’ over and over again, but everything after the fourth or fifth ‘sorry’ is fuzzy at best and completely blank at worst.” The other three gave each other strange looks, making Leif worried about what they would say.

“Er, how to put it…,” Nanna started, but Ares finished for her.

“You were possessed by the ghost.”

“What?! Are you serious?!,” Leif exclaimed, almost climbing over the back of the couch in surprise and cringing at the sudden spike in his headache.

“Well, we believe that’s the case, anyways,” Nanna elaborated. “Do you really not remember crying and saying some vague things in the middle of the seance?” Leif shook his head, confusion evident in his expression. “I see… Ares, if you will.”

“Sure.” At Nanna’s prompting, Ares grabbed his phone off the table and beckoned Leif over.

Leif climbed the rest of the way over the couch and walked over to where Ares sat, leaning down a little to see what Ares needed to show him. Ares pressed play and a video played that showed a recording of the seance they did earlier that day. “How many security cameras did you get?,” Leif asked.

“Enough”

Ignoring whatever the hell that meant, Leif kept watching as the seance progressed. Everything was how he remembered it going, that is, until he noticed himself crying in the video just like Nanna said. The audio was pretty bad, but from what he could make out, everything he said was pretty much nonsensical regardless. When the other three ended the seance, he himself passed out and slammed face first into the table as the rest of the apartment shook and the lights flickered. Leif cringed watching it and couldn’t tell if the video was the freakiest or most embarrassing thing he’d ever seen. Or both.

Putting his phone away, Ares said, “And that’s that.”

“We think the ghost was trying to use you as a medium between them and us,” Nanna explained. “They might have been struggling to answer the questions we were asking and they possessed you to better answer them or they were trying to forcibly take your body for whatever reason. We aren’t sure which one.”

“Ok, but why would they possess me specifically?,” Leif asked.

“According to google, it’s either because you were the most spiritually vulnerable out of all of us or you subconsciously let the spirit take control,” Lene answered. “Is there anything about the seance you can remember that would be a clue?”

Leif thought about it for a moment before he remembered one thing sticking out to him. “I remember thinking that the ghost’s name was familiar and getting distracted by it.”

“Really? Can you remember where you would’ve heard the name ‘Seliph’ before?”

“Ugh, give me some pain killers and maybe I can,” Leif said. Trying to force any related memories to come up became another thing that irritated his headache. But even through the pain, a lightbulb went off. “Oh wait, I think my mom mentioned that name once when I was really little.”

“You think or you know?,” Ares asked with a bit of a bite.

“No, I’m sure of it,” Leif said with absolute certainty. “I remember because Altena and I were spying on our parents. At the time, I didn’t think it was anything important, but mom and dad seemed pretty upset about whatever they were talking about. Altena told me to keep whatever I heard a secret, so I did and almost forgot all about it.”

“Can you remember anything about the conversation?,” Nanna asked.

Leif shook his head. “No, Sorry. But I know for certain that they mentioned a Seliph. I’ll try asking about it as soon as I can.”

“Well, I guess that’s all we can do for now,” Lene sighed. “We didn’t really learn much, but it’s something at least. Do we have a plan for what to do next beside getting clues from Leif’s parents?”

“We should get back together after I find some answers and try to do another seance,” Leif suggested.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea? What if the spirit possesses you again?,” Nanna asked. “We don’t know what’ll happen if that’s what a second seance leads to.”

“But if we don’t, then we won’t be able to talk directly to them again. It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” Leif argued. “I want to get to the bottom of this whole thing.”

“Well, if he’s that willing to go through with it, then I don’t see why we shouldn’t try again,” Ares agreed. 

Lene giggled and said, “You’re only saying that because you want the ghost gone more than anyone else.”

“You say that like it’s not a perfectly reasonable response to being haunted by some random ghost.”

“Either way, I don’t think it’s a bad idea,” Lene continued. “From what we’ve learned so far, the ghost seems to be pretty mellow if a bit cryptic for the most part.”

“Well, if you all think it’ll be ok, then I’ll have to agree,” Nanna relented.

“Great! Then, I’ll dig up some dirt on Seliph if I can and let you all know when we can get together again,” Leif said, beaming at the prospect of an unfolding mystery for them to solve. 

And with that all decided, the little group of four said their goodbyes and took their leave of each other.

~~~

It wasn’t until a couple days after the initial seance that Leif was able to finally ask his parents about Seliph. He tried multiple times to find a good opportunity to ask, but it always seemed like his parents were too busy or the timing was just too awkward. Eventually, he had to resort to just asking during family dinner time. It would be a weird time to ask and certainly make for an uncomfortable meal, but it had to be done now or never. If Altena remembered their promise, he’d certainly be dead. She was always pretty serious about these things.

About halfway into the meal, after any and all pleasantries and conversations were out of the way, Leif made his move. “So, um, mom? I have a question for you.”

“Mm? What is it?,” Ethlyn asked, quickly swallowing the water she was in the middle of drinking.

“Who’s Seliph?”

And it was those two simple words that caused both of his parents to stare at him with wide eyes and gaping mouths as they unceremoniously dropped their silverware. Awkward, just as Leif thought it would be and then some. And when Altena harshly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him closer to whisper to him, he knew he was going to die tonight.

“What the hell?! You were supposed to keep that a secret,” Altena harshly whispered.

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t remember,” Leif whispered back. “Listen, I’m sorry, but this is kind of important. Just let me do what I need to do.”

“...Only if you promise to tell me what’s going on later.”

“Deal.”

And then they broke their little sibling pow-wow to return to two incredibly shocked parents. Just the look his parents were giving him alone made Leif almost back out of getting answers. Almost.

“Who told you about that?,” Quan demanded. Leif wasn’t sure he had ever heard his father be so serious yet panicked at the same time.

“Um, er, something happened the other day that reminded me of this one time…,” Leif started vaguely and nervously, “I-It doesn’t really matter. I just remembered that you mentioned someone named Seliph when I was little and I was wondering who it was. That’s all.”

“So you don’t know anything other than that name?,” Quan asked.

Leif shook his head and he could’ve sworn his father couldn’t have sounded more relieved with just a sigh. Meanwhile, his mother looked sad and forlorn, for whatever reason. Now Leif desperately wanted to know what the deal with Seliph was. “Could… Could you tell me about Seliph? It’s really important.”

“Why do you suddenly need to know so bad?”

If his father asked another question to avoid the topic at hand, Leif was going to have an aneurysm. “Listen, I just need to know. The why isn’t important. Why do you keep avoiding answering?”

Quan went to argue, but luckily Ethlyn spoke first. If she didn't, the two would probably end up arguing for hours. “I think… It’s time you knew. You’re old enough for it now,” she started. “Leif… Seliph is my brother’s son.”

That was news Leif wasn’t expecting. “You have a brother? How come I’ve never met him?,” he asked.

“I… had a brother,” Ethlyn corrected, her eyes getting a little watery as she spoke. “He’s no longer with us. You probably don’t remember, but you have met Sigurd before. You were just very little at the time. You and Seliph used to have playdates often when you were toddlers.”

So, Leif hadn’t just heard Seliph’s name before, he had met him before. Hell, they were even cousins! “Why didn’t you tell me?,” he asked.

“You were so young when Sigurd died and Seliph had to move away,” Ethlyn explained. “We thought if we never mentioned it again, you’d simply forget. Your father and I… we just didn’t want to face the truth, let alone explain to a four year old why he’d never get to see his best friend or uncle ever again. I’m sorry…”

“N-No, it’s ok, mom! Please don’t be upset…,” Leif said, trying to reassure his mother. “At least you’re telling me now.”

“Yes, that’s true,” Ethlyn said, dabbing her eyes and letting a single sniffle escape. Quan whispered something in her ear that Leif couldn’t (and frankly didn’t want to) make out before he gave her a kiss on the cheek. Ethlyn excused herself after that along with Altena who, to put it simply, felt out of place, leaving just Quan and Leif at the dinner table.

“Dad, what happened to Seliph?,” Leif asked hesitantly.

Quan sighed, sounding tired and aged beyond his years, before answering, “Well, with his mother having gone missing when he was still an infant and his father passing away, he was sent away to the closest blood relative that could care for him.”

But that didn’t make sense to Leif. If Seliph was supposed to live with the closest blood relative he had, wouldn’t that have been Ethlyn? She was Seliph’s aunt, yet Seliph had never lived with them at any point. “Wouldn’t that be mom, though? She is Sigurd’s sister,” Leif pointed out.

“That’s true, but at the time, Ethlyn and I couldn’t afford to take care of a third child at the time. We had our hands pretty full with you and Altena already,” Quan elaborated. “Custody ended up being passed from us to Sigurd’s cousin, Oifey.”

Oifey. Another relative Leif didn’t know he had, albeit a significantly more distant one. He found he was learning a lot more than he bargained for today.

“Y’know,” Quan continued. “Seliph should be around your age. Whatever you plan on doing with this information, just be careful, ok? Don’t do anything drastic.” With that, he ruffled Leif’s hair before excusing himself.

Left alone with his thoughts, Leif pondered everything he learned. So, he had an uncle named Sigurd and a cousin named Seliph. His uncle is deceased, but from the way his parents talked about it, they seem to think Seliph is still alive somewhere. This implies that wherever Seliph went was somewhere far away and that his parents had little to no contact with Seliph or his legal guardian. But if that was true, then who was the ghost haunting Ares? If it was the same Seliph, then that meant he had died and Leif’s parents never found out, but it also meant that his spirit had traveled a long way just to do Ares’ chores when he wasn’t looking. If they were the same Seliph and the previous ideas were true, then why would he linger around as a spirit, let alone wander all the way to Ares’ apartment of all things?

Leif got some much needed answers, but at the cost of gaining so many- too many- more.

~~~

Leif added Nanna, Ares, Lene, and Altena to the group chat.

Leif: Ok, so-

Leif: I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve gathered you here tonight. [11:48 pm]

Ares: It’s about the ghost thing isn’t it? [11:48 pm]

Leif: Yes [11:49 pm]

Altena: Excuse me, what’s this about a ghost? [11:49 pm]

Ares: First answer me this

Ares: why are you here? [11:49 pm]

Leif: I promised to tell her what was going on [11:49 pm]

Ares: Why [11:49 pm]

Leif: Does it really matter :/ [11:50 pm]

Altena: no one’s answered my question, yet. [11:50 pm]

Lene: Ares is being haunted by a ghost and we’re trying to get rid of it. [11:50 pm]

Altena: A ghost? Really? [11:50 pm]

Leif: I know it sounds crazy

Leif: BUT

Leif: We have proof 

Leif: Ares, the vidoes if you please [11:50 pm]

Ares: [sent video file]

Ares: [sent video file] [11:50 pm]

Altena: …

Altena: I swear if this is another prank [11:53 pm]

Leif: It’s not! I promise. [11:53 pm]

Ares: I have more footage btw [11:53 pm]

Leif: Of course you do -_- [11:53 pm]

Ares: It’s not my fault the ghost constantly does my chores [11:54 pm]

Altena: I don’t need to see it, thanks.

Altena: I would, however, like to know what was going on in that second video.

Altena: Was that a ouija board you all were using? [11:54 pm]

Lene: Yeah, we had a little seance to try and talk to the ghost.

Lene: Their name is Seliph! :D

Lene: But that’s all we really learned D: [11:54 pm]

Leif: *his [11:54 pm]

Altena: so that’s why you were being weird at dinner. [11:55 pm]

Ares: I’m gonna assume that means you finally got some news [11:55 pm]

Leif: Yes, in fact, I did >:3

Leif: I’d rather we discussed it in person tho

Leif: it’s a bit of a doozy [11:55 pm]

Lene: So we should be setting up a time to meet then.

Lene: Is Altena coming, too? [11:55 pm]

Leif: If she wants to. [11:55 pm]

Ares: I don’t care [11:55 pm]

Altena: I’m reluctant to go along with this nonsense.

Altena: But I am a little curious. [11:56 pm]

Leif: Cool. Now there’s five of us.

Leif: or there would be, but Nanna’s been weirdly absent [11:56 pm]

Nanna: My apologies, I just got home from dinner and a movie with my family.

Nanna: I was trying to read through the previous messages after I saw my phone blow up with notifications. 

Nanna: I don’t mind if Altena wishes to join us. [11:56 pm]

Leif: oh

Leif: That solves that then [11:56 pm]

Leif: Now we just need a place and time where we can all get together.

Leif: Next week is spring break for me and Nanna, so we should be pretty much free. [11:57 pm]

Lene: I have class tomorrow, but after that I should be free for spring break, too. [11:57 pm]

Ares: I can probably get Monday or Tuesday off work

Ares: With how spineless the manager is, it shouldn’t be too hard [11:57 pm]

Leif: It’s not that he’s spineless

Leif: It’s just that you can be freakishly terrifying when you want to be [11:57 pm]

Nanna: Please don’t bully your boss, Ares. [11:58 pm]

Ares: I’m not bullying him.

Ares: Bullying is for losers.

Ares: I’m just aggressively convincing him to do as I say. [11:58 pm]

Lene: Break a leg! [11:58 pm]

Ares: Oh, I’ll break a leg if I need to. [11:58 pm]

Nanna: Ares! [11:58 pm]

Ares: Relax, it was a joke. Lene gets it. [11:59 pm]

Lene: ;3 [11:59 pm]

Altena: Leif, I question why you hang out with people like these. [11:59 pm]

Leif: That’s pretty hot shit coming from you

Leif: Considering, y’know, that you hang out with the son of dad’s sworn enemy

Leif: What was his name? Oh yeah, it was Arion, right? [11:59 pm]

Ares: You’re gonna die. [12:00 am]

Nanna: I’ll miss you Leif. time of death, approximately 12 am on March 13th, 2020. [12:00 am]

Lene: Um, guys I think he’s actually dead. It’s been awhile. [12:13 am]

Ares: Shit

Ares: We kind of needed him for getting rid of the ghost. [12:13 am]

Nanna: Altena, if you’re still there, please tell us you didn’t kill your brother. [12:13 am]

Altena: No, he’s alive

Altena: We’re both grounded for a few days, though. Leif lost his phone for a week and my car keys were taken away. [12:13 am]

Altena: Our parents weren’t exactly happy to be woken up by rough housing and screaming in the middle of the night. [12:14 am]

Ares: You’re 20 but you still get grounded by your parents? [12:14 am]

Altena: That’s not important.

Altena: Could we shoot for meeting up on Tuesday?

Altena: My college had spring break last week, but I don’t have any classes on Tuesday. [12:14 am]

Nanna: That works for me. [12:15 am]

Lene: I’m good for Tuesday as well. [12:15 am]

Ares: Tuesday at my place it is then. [12:15 am]

Lene: the day of reckoning soon arrives for your boss. [12:15 am]

Ares: Javarro’s an asshole anyways. [12:15 am]

Lene: Ugh, don’t have to tell me that. (‘-_-) [12:16 am]

Nanna: It’s getting late. We should all head to bed.

Nanna: Goodnight everyone. [12:16 am]

Lene: ‘Night. [12:16 am]

Altena: Goodnight.

Altena: Leif also says goodnight. [12:16 am]

Ares: It’s not that late, but night. [12:16 am]

~~~

The weekend went by agonizingly slowly, but eventually Tuesday arrived to Leif’s relief. Being grounded got boring really fast, especially when he was too old to be grounded in the first place. Either way, what mattered was that he was still allowed to leave the house and so was Altena. However, before they left for Ares’ apartment, there was something they needed to do first.

“We’re raiding Dad’s office before we go,” Leif told Altena in between brushing his teeth.

“Perhaps you forgot, but we’re already grounded. Do you want to make it worse that badly?,” Altena asked, a warning in her voice. “What do you even plan to get out of there anyways? Also, don’t talk with your mouth full of toothpaste.”

“But you’re doing it too! Ugh, whatever. Y’know how dad tends to keep all the newspapers we get?,” Leif started. “I wanted to see if we could find anything related to whatever happened to Uncle Sigurd.”

“What makes you think we’ll find anything in a newspaper? Just use Google.”

Leif groaned. “I know, but listen. Can we check? Just in case? There could be an obituary or something for Uncle Sigurd.”

Altena sighed, but ultimately caved in. “Alright fine, but if we get caught, I’m putting all the blame on you.”

And that was how they spent the better part of their morning tearing through Quan’s office in the hopes of finding any sort of clue. Luckily both Quan and Ethlyn were out at work, so they wouldn’t be home anytime soon. Still though, it was a lot to look through and left quite a mess with newspapers strewn all over the room in disorganized piles. And the worst part was that the siblings had to put it all back when they were done so Quan wouldn’t notice they were snooping around.

In the middle of skimming an article that was decidedly nowhere close to being helpful, Leif heard his sister sigh rather loudly. “Hm? Is something wrong, Altena?”

“I was just thinking about the other night. Y’know, when you asked about Seliph?,” Altena said. “I couldn’t help but think about how upset mom looked as she talked about what happened. It’s been years since Uncle Sigurd died, but she still hasn’t moved on.”

Leif had thought about that same thing several times since that night, but he had to guiltily admit he was more distracted and concerned with trying to figure out theories as to what could possibly be unfolding before them. Still though, even if it dug up bad memories, it had to be done. “I think… maybe if we can get some solid answers instead of partial clues and half baked theories, we can help our parents find closure of some kind.”

Altena turned from the newspaper she was skimming and looked at Leif with a gaze that could see right through him. “Is that why you want to solve this mystery so badly?”

“Partly,” Leif answered, returning his sister’s gaze. He’d asked himself that question many times since the initial seance. “If that ghost really is our cousin, I want to help him, too. I want to know what’s going on and why this is all happening. It’s just a feeling I have, but I think this is something much bigger than we realize.”

Altena didn’t say anything at first, the siblings holding each other’s gaze for a good while until she finally broke it with a nod. “You may be right. You were always a bit too clever for your own good,” she said before ruffling Leif’s hair.

“Hey! Don’t patronize me!,” Leif complained. “I’m seventeen, not seven!”

Altena just chuckled at him, but she had a fond smile nonetheless. “You’re still my little brother though.”

“Whatever! That doesn’t mean anything. Let’s just get back to work,” Leif argued before turning back to the stack of newspapers he was working on. But as luck would have it, his eye caught on a key just barely peeking out from under the rug that took up much of the floor. Pulling the key out from its hiding place, Leif was struck with an idea. His father’s desk featured several locked drawers, so it was possible this key belonged to them.

Altena turned her attention back to her brother at the sound of the drawers being opened. “What are you doing?,” she asked.

“I found this key under the rug. I was thinking it might open the desk drawers and sure enough, it does,” Leif said, rummaging through the contents of each drawer. “There might be something in here that can- bingo! Altena, I think this is it!”

Leif held up a small stack of newspapers and handed them over to Altena for her to read. The leading story on the first newspaper was titled “Officer Dies in Horrific Arson Attack, Killer Unknown” and a quick glance through the entire stack showed that much of the newspapers had already been heavily marked with pen and pencil. Skimming through the article, Altena’s eyes stopped the second she saw Sigurd’s name written there. “What… What is this?,” Altena asked. “Uncle Sigurd was murdered?”

“Is that what the article says?,” Leif asked.

“Y-Yeah… he was burned alive while on duty,” Altena said. Skimming for more details she added, “It seems he was a police officer investigating some sort of cult. The article doesn’t say much else about his investigation or even say who’s responsible for his death. Just that his corpse was found hours after the initial attack, already charred and unrecognizable. The only thing that could be used to reveal his identity was a dna test done on his teeth during the autopsy, apparently.”

“Maybe that’s what the other newspapers are for. They’ve got tons of marks on them, so do you think Dad was trying to figure out who the culprit was on his own?,” Leif suggested.

“It’s possible,” Altena replied. “But we found what we needed, so we should clean up and head over to Ares’ place. We can talk more about it then.”

And so that’s what they did, as fast as possible.

~~~

“Well you two certainly took your time,” Ares said sarcastically when he opened the door to greet Leif and Altena. “Lene and Nanna got here hours ago.”

“Sorry, but we had to do something first. Plus, we had to walk here since Altena’s keys were taken away,” Leif explained.

“You know, if you got your driver’s license already-”

“I’d be able to drive myself, I know! It’s not like mom and dad don’t already nag me about that enough, Altena,” Leif groaned. “Besides, even if I could drive and had my own car, mom and dad would’ve just taken my keys, too.”

Changing the subject, Lene popped up from behind Ares to ask, “What was it you needed to do before coming over?”

Altena held up the newspapers she and Leif had found that morning. “We had to find these. We think they could be related to Ares’ ghost problem.”

“Hurry up and come in then,” Ares said, both him and Lene stepping out of the way. “Nanna brought the ouija board again, but she’s still worried about using it.”

“For a good reason!,” Nanna butted in from her seat at the dining room table.

“Nanna, I promise it’ll be fine,” Leif reassured her. Both he and Altena entered the apartment and joined Nanna at the table, soon followed by Ares and Lene. “But first we need to discuss what we’ve learned.”

Alongside the box the ouija board was in, Altena set the newspapers down on the table and spread them out so they filled a majority of the table space. On the walk here, both siblings had read a bit from each newspaper and concluded that, aside from the initial newspaper detailing Sigurd’s death, they were all about various cult dealings in one way or another. It was likely that if Quan really was looking to solve the mystery at one point, he specifically looked for these newspapers to try and pindown a culprit. The fact that no real conclusion exists as far as Leif and Altena know probably means that Quan gave up, but he kept everything he had worked towards meaning his children could pick up where he left off. Even if it’s been over a decade since this was all started.

“To give a quick rundown of things,” Leif started, “We’ve learned that the ghost haunting Ares is possibly mine and Altena’s cousin. As it turns out, we have an uncle named Sigurd who had a son named Seliph. Uncle Sigurd passed away however, and Seliph was sent far away to live with his father’s relative since our parents couldn’t take care of him. They also don’t know what happened to Seliph after that, so it’s possible Seliph really did die and is now the ghost haunting Ares. Otherwise, this is just some kind of weird coincidence. Either way, Altena and I thought it was worth looking into.”

“And that’s what these newspapers are for,” Altena continued. “From what we can tell, our dad was trying to figure out what was really going on behind Uncle Sigurd’s death. We found these newspapers he collected in his office already marked all over, likely in an attempt to connect them either to each other or back to the original crime.

“The original crime?,” Lene asked. “What would that be?”

“The crime committed on our uncle and what I believe is the beginning of all of this,” Leif elaborated, “is Sigurd’s untimely and brutal murder at the hands of a cult.”

“Or at least, that’s the theory we have so far,” Altena finished.

Everyone at the table seemed pretty shocked about the development, all except for Ares who was both too stoic for his own good but also too deep in thought to be properly shocked. However, Leif was distracted by the sudden, out of place sound of someone softly crying. Leif looked around to see if he could find the source but saw nothing and judging by the others’ reactions, they didn’t seem to hear anything themselves.

“Um, Leif, is everything alright?,” Nanna asked gently.

“Y-Yeah, just thought I heard something,” Leif answered, the noise quickly disappearing. 

Nanna was about to say something to Leif about that, but he was saved by Ares speaking up first. “Now that you bring this up, I knew a Sigurd once,” he said.

“You did?”

“Yeah, my father was good friends with a man named Sigurd,” Ares explained. “I only met him a handful of times at best, but my dad would talk about him pretty fondly while I was growing up. I think- no, I remember now… Sigurd had a kid, too, about a year or two younger than me. We played together a few times, but after some point I never saw them again. Damn, I can’t believe I forgot all about it.”

“So both our dads were close to Sigurd and we both were friends with Seliph at one point…,” Leif noted. “This is weird.”

“Before we get any deeper into this rabbit hole, we should probably confirm that all of this is truly related to our ghost problem first,” Lene suggested.

“I agree. All of this is somewhat pointless if it turns out to be completely unrelated,” Nanna added. “Then we’d just have two mysteries to solve on our hands.”

Leif nodded. “You’re right. Let’s get the ouija board set up, then.”

Nanna started getting out the board and planchette as Altena asked, “Um, how are we supposed to do this?”

“You just put one finger on the planchette and try not to talk if you aren’t the leader,” Lene explained. “Other than that, it’s pretty much just the leader asking the spirit questions and the spirit using the planchette to answer them. Simple!”

“I see.”

With the board set up on top of the newspapers, Nanna asked, “Is everyone ready? I’ll be the leader again if that’s alright.”

Everyone nodded and placed a finger on the planchette, all except Leif. “Only if you promise me one thing,” Leif said, his tone gravely serious, “if I get possessed again, you let it happen. Don’t end the seance unless my life is seriously in danger.”

“Wait, possessed?! You never mentioned that before!,” Altena said, taking her finger off the planchette in a sudden outburst. “I don’t care if this ghost is our cousin, I’m not letting anyone do that to my little brother!”

“You can’t seriously ask me to agree to that!,” Nanna replied, just as riled up as Altena.

“Both of you, calm down! It’ll be alright,” Leif assured. “I doubt anything seriously bad will happen and if it’ll help us get closer to finding answers, then I’m more than willing to do whatever it takes.”

“But you don’t know if any of that is true!,” both Altena and Nanna shouted in sync.

“We still have to try at least!”

“I think you two give him too little credit,” Ares spoke up, addressing both Nanna and Altena. “He’s not a baby, he can handle it. He’s certainly much stronger than both of you seem to think.”

“Yeah, that’s right! Just believe in him,” Lene added, giving her own two cents. “Even if something goes wrong, we can get through it together. Like it or not, we’re a team and we’re all in this together.”

“Thanks guys,” Leif said, more than relieved to have someone on his side. “I believe that’s three against two on the matter.”

“Alright fine,” Altena relented, but she didn’t look very happy about it.

Nanna, for her part, sighed but ultimately asked if everyone was ready again. Everyone nodded this time and put their fingers back on the planchette. With everyone now in (reluctant) agreement, Nanna started the seance.

“Hello again, Seliph. Are you there?”

Unlike before, the planchette immediately moved to yes rather than taking a minute or two to answer.

“That’s good. If you’re ok with it, would you be willing to answer a few more questions?”

Again, a yes.

“Hm, ok… how about this, do you remember anything about when you were alive?,” Nanna started with.

The planchette stayed in place for a moment before it slid over to no.

“That’s unfortunate... Why did you come to haunt Ares?”

This time the planchette actually started to spell something. F-A-M-I-L-I-A-R. 

“Familiar… So Ares is familiar to you?”

Yes, the planchette said. Another point towards this ghost really being the same Seliph from so long ago.

“What about Leif or Altena?”

The planchette slid, again, to yes, meaning even more proof.

“Is… is that why you possessed Leif last time?” Nanna looked like she would’ve rather not asked that question

P-A-R-T-L-Y was the planchette’s answer.

Without thinking, Leif blurted out, “Could you do it again?”

“Leif! You have to stay silent!,” Nanna reprimanded.

But the planchette still moved, even if it somehow seemed hesitant to do so. Yes was the answer.

“No, we aren’t doing that,” Altena warned, likely trying to scare the spirit though she couldn’t actually do anything about what Seliph did or did not do. “Nanna, ask him a different question.”

Nanna sighed, a little irritated by the siblings’ blatant disregard of the “no talking rule”. “Only if you both actually adhere to the rules. We don’t know what breaking them could result in”

“Well, nothing bad has happened so far,” Lene said.

“That isn’t the point!”

“I mean, last time, things started going to shit before we started actually talking out of line,” Ares added.

“I swear, all of you are hopeless.”

And Leif swore he could’ve heard someone laugh from right next to him. But when he looked to see who was there, he found nothing and the sound died out. He hoped he wasn’t going crazy.

“Is something wrong?,” Nanna asked Leif, momentarily forgetting that no one at the table besides her could follow the rules for very long.

“Er, no, it’s nothing,” Leif said. “Let’s just get back to asking questions”

Nanna looked at him for a moment, expression unreadable, before she asked the next question. “Seliph, we brought these newspapers in the hopes that we could learn more about your past. Do any of them bring back memories?”

Instead of answering with the planchette, Seliph seemed to look through each of the newspapers one by one judging from the way they moved and rustled on their own. Eventually he stopped on one in particular and picked it up, almost as if that was the one he wanted to read in earnest. No one at the table seemed to be too startled by the levitating newspaper, but Altena in particular was a little unsettled by it. Everyone else wasn’t as bothered seeing as this wasn’t the weirdest experience they’ve had so far.

Eventually the levitating newspaper started trembling, as though Seliph’s hands were shaking as he held it. There were even crinkled, depressed spots on the newspaper showing where he could be gripping it much too tightly. Soon enough, the newspaper stopped trembling and started floating down back onto the table at the same time the planchette moved to yes.

So it was true, this spirit was the very same Seliph, just as Leif thought. Leif and Altena shared a knowing look with each other. “What do you remember?,” Leif asked.

F-A-T-H-E-R

“Is Sigurd your father?”

Yes.

“Well… That answers that then,” Ares said, sounding uncharacteristically sober.

“What do we do now?,” Lene asked the others rather than Seliph.

“What do you mean? We help Seliph, of course,” Leif answered. Whether they liked it or not, they were all too far involved in this mess now and they needed to see it through. Or at least, Leif was determined to see it through, even by himself if he had to.

“How are we supposed to do that?,” Ares asked. “Sure, we know who exactly the ghost is now, but we still don’t know anything important about his past or what brought him here in the first place. Not even he knows all the answers. How are we even supposed to be helping him to begin with?”

“Considering he’s lingering around as a spirit, I think we’re supposed to be helping him move on to the afterlife,” Lene suggested. “At least, that’s usually how these things work in books and movies. A person’s spirit tends to linger after death because there’s something they regret about their life.”

“But that’s only in fiction,” Altena spoke up. “This is real life. None of those rules in movies or whatever could be accurate at all, we don’t have any real way to know.”

Nanna, having long since given up on following the rules of the ouija board, looked to Leif and asked, “What do you think we should do, Leif?”

“I…” It was a hard question. They still had to face so many unknowns and had so much work to do before they could reach any sort of conclusion. It almost seemed insurmountable, but Leif was nothing if not stubborn. “Seliph, is communicating with the ouija board difficult?”

The planchette quickly moved to yes.

“Then possess me again. Use my body if that makes it easier.”

“But-!”

“Nanna, we all agreed to this before we started,” Leif said, cutting his childhood friend off. “I said I wanted to help Seliph and I will. You can’t stop me.”

Nanna sighed. “I know.”

“Altena, no objections?”

“I don’t really have a choice, do I? You're too stubborn for your own good and besides, I trust you.”

Leif gave a nod in thanks to both of them for letting him go through with his plan. “Well, Seliph? Will you let me help you?”

And, out of nowhere, an entirely new voice asked, “Are you certain?”

Leif was only off guard for a moment before he steeled himself and answered, “Absolutely.”

He blacked out instantly.


	3. Getting To Know The Ghost

His senses came to him slowly and one at a time. First was simply the awareness of being there and “alive”, followed by ability to feel, then scent and sound, and finally ending at sight as he slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were his borrowed hands and it was so incredibly strange to be able to feel them as he clenched and unclenched them. Even stranger was the need to breathe again and the miniscule feelings that came with being alive, like how the air was stale or how the chair he sat on was just the slightest bit lumpy. Everything about living that one doesn’t notice or spend a thought on could so easily be lost.

Seliph realized at that moment, when he took control of Leif’s body for the second time, that he had taken it all for granted. Only a month of being an incorporeal spirit and he was already forgetting what it was like to be alive. He can still touch the world around him, but he can no longer feel any of it. He can see, but he can never stop seeing, never close his eyes and truly rest. He can hear, but can’t be heard by anyone other than Leif. He was there, but not truly. It was a half existence, Seliph had learned far too quickly, and a hollow one.

“Leif? No… you’re Seliph,” Nanna said, breaking Seliph out of his stupor and bringing his attention to the four others at the table.

Pulling himself together to a more grounded state, he said, “Yes, I am Seliph. I’m… very sorry for possessing your friend like this.”

“N-No, it’s alright. He offered after all,” Nanna assured him, though he could tell she thought it strange to hear him speak with Leif’s voice. Even Seliph himself found it surreal and he already missed his own, softer voice.

“Still though… I must apologize for the way I behaved before, at least. I didn’t mean to freak you all out like that.”

“What even happened with that?,” Ares asked, curiosity getting the better of him. “You’re much more coherent and polite now. It’s still kind of weird considering you’re using Leif’s body, but...”

“Honestly, I’m not really sure,” Seliph answered. “I remember trying to answer your questions at the time, but I was having difficulty actually remembering the specifics of the answers. Everytime I try to remember the past, all I can truly recall are my lingering emotions. They made me panic and I guess I ended up acting quite… recklessly, you could say. Actually, now that I think about, I’ve mostly just been ‘acting’, not really thinking about what I’ve been doing.”

“How far back can you remember, then?,” Lene asked.

“Around a month. The furthest back I can clearly remember is wandering the streets of this city and spotting Ares. He was familiar to me, so I followed him and ended up sticking around since I didn’t know where else to go. Still, most of what I did during that month blurs together, like I was going through the motions but I wasn’t really ‘there’ if that makes any sense.” That was another difference Seliph noticed about life: it was much easier to be aware of one’s self.

This time, it was Nanna’s turn to ask a question. “Then what changed that? You’re clearly much more grounded now.”

Seliph pondered the question for a minute before answering. He didn’t really know why he suddenly went through such a drastic change, but he knew when and had a vague idea. “I think… It was when I first possessed Leif. After you said goodbye and ended the seance, I was forcefully expelled from his body, but everything after that was much easier to recall than everything before. At the very least, I’m sure I was more aware of myself and my surroundings after that. For example, I didn’t really get bored doing chores around this apartment before the seance, but after it happened I found myself digging through Ares’ movie stash just for some entertainment.”

“So that’s why the TV kept turning on in the middle of the night!,” Ares exclaimed.

“By the way, do you watch anything other than action movies? Something from any other genre would be nice. Preferably a good drama or documentary, even a single comedy would be better.”

“Excuse me, but I don’t remember asking for you to be my roommate.”

“Ah- right, sorry…”

“Moving on from that,” Altena spoke up before Seliph felt too embarrassed, “Why did you possess my brother specifically? I know why you did this time, but that doesn’t explain before. You said it was partly because he was familiar to you, but that’s not the only reason, is it?”

Seliph turned his attention away from a scowling Ares to look at Altena. She was pretty sharp to take note of that, but it was understandable as this concerned her younger brother. “You’re right, that wasn’t the only reason,” he confirmed. “It’s a bit hard to explain, but basically, out of everyone that was there at the time and even now, he has the highest aptitude towards sensing the paranormal.”

“What about me then?,” Altena asked. “I’m Leif’s sister, so I should have a high aptitude as well, right?”

“Actually, you have the lowest aptitude of everyone here. Were I not talking through Leif right now, you would never be able to tell I’m here at all.”

“How does that aptitude work then?,” Lene asked.

“I’m not sure on the specifics, I can just sense if someone is receptive to spirits or not. Likely because I’m a spirit myself,” Seliph explained. There wasn’t really anything tangible to tell when someone had that kind of sixth sense, more like Seliph had his own sort of sense that subconsciously detected it. “It might be hereditary or it might be something entirely. I don’t know.”

“Actually, can we loop back to a previous question real quick?,” Nanna asked, looking quite absorbed in the conversation. “You said earlier that you were forcibly expelled from Leif when we stopped using the ouija board, but we aren’t using it right now and you’re still in control of Leif.”

“One of the rules was that we had to say goodbye before the seance could end,” Lene said. “Maybe that’s why. We could try saying goodbye and see what happens.”

“What do we do if the same thing happens? Then we can’t talk directly to Seliph anymore,” Ares argued.

“I… think it’ll be ok,” Seliph said. For some reason or another, he had a feeling that it wouldn’t end up doing anything this time. “Try it.”

So everyone put their finger back on the planchette, including Seliph acting in place of Leif, and said goodbye, officially ending their use of the ouija board. But nothing seemed to happen this time. Leif didn’t pass out, meaning Seliph was still the one in control. It was likely that if he couldn’t be forcibly expelled the same way, Seliph could stay in control for as long as needed unless forced out another way.

“Well, I’m still here.”

“Then, that leaves us with the question of why it didn’t work this time,” Lene said.

“We can save it for later. For now we should move on to questions that’ll actually get us closer to figuring out where to go next,” Altena said. “Seliph, can you think of any reason why you wouldn’t move on to whatever afterlife exists?”

Seliph didn’t answer right away, instead reaching out to grab one of the newspapers. The one he grabbed was the one that detailed how Sigurd died. It mostly consisted of other peoples’ thoughts and testimonies of the event with the actual circumstances behind and surrounding his death being mentioned vaguely at best. Out of everything he’d looked at so far, this was the only thing to give clear memories. “I think it’s because… because I was trying to get justice for my father’s murder,” he started, voice cracking with the strain of trying to hold his emotions back. “When I read this newspaper, I knew that I spent a lot of time trying to find the culprit before I died. That’s about all I can remember, however.”

“Didn’t you mention your father was doing the same thing, Altena?,” Nanna asked.

Altena nodded. “Yeah, he was, but I think he gave up or simply couldn’t continue the search. I wanna say he was possibly assigned to the case of Sigurd’s murder officially, but I can’t say for certain that it’s true. Either way, he kept all of these newspapers that he marked with clues towards finding the truth. Maybe we can use them to retrace Seliph’s steps and help him remember what he was doing before he died.”

“Do you think that’ll work?”

“I can see the logic behind it,” Ares commented. “Lots of people retrace their steps if there’s something they forgot. If both Quan and Seliph were searching for the true culprit, then as long as they were on the same track with their searches it should be close enough to help Seliph remember his past.”

While they discussed the idea of retracing his steps, Seliph examined more of the newspapers. Each marked article was about some report on a cult’s misdeeds, the date of each publication giving away that these had been collected over a period of years. Reading about the cults, Seliph was struck with a sudden and incredibly painful headache as well as nausea to make it worse. One good thing about being a disembodied spirit was that he didn’t feel such incredible pain, but now that he was occupying a body it was an almost unbearable feeling. Gripping Leif’s head with both hands like it was a lifeline, it took all his strength not to throw up in a body that wasn’t his.

Everyone around him took notice of his behavior, each expressing concern in their own way but all Seliph was aware of were the sounds of chairs screeching across the floor and their voices.

“Seliph, are you ok?,” Nanna asked, rushing over to his side.

“N-No, my memories,” Seliph struggled to get out, “I… can’t stay…”

And without warning, Seliph left Leif’s body to slump over into the arms of his friend and sister.

~~~

When Leif woke up with a splitting headache, he thought to himself that it was way too familiar for comfort. But then he saw a blue, translucent boy staring down at him just a few inches from his face and he knew it wasn’t a bad case of deja vu. His immediate reaction was to scream and roll off the couch he was apparently laying on and then crawl backwards only to be stopped by the coffee table hitting the back of his head. The boy seemed equally startled however, and didn’t move from his spot, only stared at Leif with complete disbelief.

“Who are you?! Why are you glowing and blue and translucent?! Am I crazy or dead?! God, please tell me I didn’t die,” Leif said in rapid succession and complete panic. Waking up to a stranger was one thing, but waking up to a stranger that looked human but was most certainly NOT was another thing.

“You… You can see me?,” the boy asked innocently. It seemed even he wasn’t expecting this situation to happen.

But Leif didn’t get a chance to respond before Altena came bounding over the couch to his side. “Leif?! What happened, are you ok?!,” she asked, just as panicked as he felt.

At the same time, Ares barreled out of the bathroom into the living room, pants left unbuckled as a result, and yelled, “What the fuck is going on?!”

“Can you guys… really not see him?,” Leif asked, calming down a little but still internally freaking out. He gestured to where the boy stood by the couch and continued, “I mean, he’s right there!”

Both Altena and Ares looked to where he gestured, but they only looked back to Leif with worry (Altena) and annoyance (Ares). “Leif… there’s nobody there,” Altena said gently.

“So I’m going crazy?”

“Apparently,” Ares answered sarcastically as he properly did up his pants and belt buckle. “Thanks for making me speed piss, by the way.”

“Ok, so I am crazy,” Leif decided, unable to keep his eyes off the mystery boy only he could see.

“No, you aren’t crazy, I promise,” the boy said, finally gaining enough composure to speak again.

“Deeeefinitely crazy.”

“If you keep repeating it like that, it’s probably true,” Ares said, earning a death glare from Altena.

“No, Leif, you aren’t crazy,” Altena reassured him. “Does your head hurt? From the sound of it you must’ve hit the coffee table pretty hard.”

But Leif still couldn’t pay full attention to his sister or friend. There was a dull pain on the back of his head and his headache was still very noticeable, but the boy’s presence was too real for him to be imagining it. “Please, tell me, who are you?,” he asked again.

The boy gave him a soft smile and said, “Leif… My name is Seliph. It’s nice to properly meet you.”

“Seliph?! It’s really you?”

The boy- Seliph- nodded. So, this was him. Leif’s mysterious cousin who had so suddenly become such a big part of his life in almost no time flat. It was a strange way to meet, but Leif quickly found that he didn’t care about that part, only that it had happened at all.

“What? What’s this about Seliph?,” Altena asked as she helped her brother to his feet.

“The boy I’m seeing… he’s Seliph,” Leif elaborated. “I can see him now. He’s glowing a translucent blue, but he’s undeniably there and- and I can SEE him!”

“So you aren’t crazy, then. Just way too deep into this paranormal shit,” Ares said. Despite his sarcasm, Leif knew he believed the seemingly outrageous claim

Altena, for her part, looked incredibly shocked and asked, “Can you tell us what he looks like?”

“Um, well, he’s pretty much my height. Maybe an inch taller,” Leif started, “he’s got long hair tied into a low ponytail, looks a little girlish-”

“H-Hey! I do not!”

“-though apparently he doesn’t like to be called girlish. Uh, what else, hm… there’s not really much to say when he’s entirely blue… Oh, wait, I know! Seliph, what’s your full name?”

“Seliph Baldos Chalphy,” he answered. With a confused tilt to his head, Seliph asked, “Why?”

“You’ll see,” was Leif’s cryptic answer as he pulled out his phone from his back pocket and opened the internet browser to Google. Putting Seliph’s full name into the search bar and pressing enter, a list of links were pulled up related to the name. However, instead of finding a social media page or two like he expected, the first link led to a news article posted two weeks ago. “Huh… that’s weird…”

“What’s weird?,” Ares asked, walking closer to see what Leif was looking at. Altena and Seliph did the same (though Seliph floated, not walked).

“Uh, well first, here’s what he looks like,” Leif said, tapping on the provided picture posted with the article. It was a pretty basic photo, likely a relatively recent highschool picture, and aside from the colour, it was a one to one match for the ghost that Leif could see. Though, even then, Seliph was still very blue when he was alive with that hair and eye colour.

“Damn, he really does look girly,” Ares commented. Seliph, however, didn’t look very amused by it and flicked Ares on the forehead, earning him a startled, “What the-?!”

“Like I said: doesn’t like being called girly,” Leif chuckled.

Under his breath, Ares swore to get revenge some way, somehow.

“He certainly looks like Uncle Sigurd at least,” Altena cut in. “I was still pretty young when he died, but I remember enough of him to know that this is definitely his son.”

Sneaking a glance at Seliph, Leif noticed that he smiled at Altena’s comment, but it was a forlorn one. Like he was happy and proud to be compared to his father, but sad at the same time because the man who should’ve raised him had died a long time ago. It gripped Leif’s heart with how tragic it was and how much Seliph must have been hurting because of it all, both in life and even now in death.

Closing out of the picture, Leif scrolled down to the actual article. It’s title read “18 Year Old Goes Missing In Leonster”. “This… This says Seliph went missing right here in this city,” Leif said.

“I did?,” Seliph asked, but he didn’t really expect an answer.

“The hell? When was it written?,” Ares asked.

“About two weeks ago.”

“Read it, see what it says,” Altena suggested.

“Ok,” Leif started. “Earlier this week it was reported that 18 year-old Seliph Baldos Chalphy had gone missing by his legal guardians, Oifey and Shannan Chalphy, who had not heard from him for nearly two weeks. Though the case was originally reported and filed in Seliph’s hometown of Tirnanog, eyewitness reports and current investigations suggest that his last known whereabouts were in the city of Leonster halfway across the country. Though the search continues, there has been no sign of Seliph and the trail grows cold. And from there it just talks about the few things that have been found, like his car, and that if you have any information you should contact the local Leonster police.”

“So the only ones who know that Seliph died…,” Altena started.

“Are me, you, Leif, Nanna, and Lene…,” Ares finished. “It’s been a month since he showed up to haunt my apartment.”

“Meaning no one has found his body in all that time,” Leif added. “What exactly… happened to Seliph?”

The other’s couldn’t see Seliph, but Leif could. And he had never seen such unbridled terror before.

~~~

After the grand revelation that Seliph was dead and only a group of five teenagers/young adults knew about it, the three still left at Ares' apartment decided they would call it a day. A lot was learned and a lot of questions were brought forward and it was all one huge mess. All they could do for now was fill in the two who had left early on what was up over text and decide on when they’d meet next. They decided Saturday would be best to start digging through all of Quan’s notes on the investigation regarding Sigurd’s death. In the meantime, everyone was just left to their own devices and for Leif, that meant stewing over everything he learned anyways. He was going to have a very long spring break.

However, alongside his persistent thoughts, Leif also had to go home with Seliph in tow. Since Seliph was pretty much fully aware of himself now and could only communicate with everyone via Leif, it was decided that the two of them would stick together from now on. Obviously Ares was pretty happy about that, until he realized he’d have to start doing his own chores again. Leif told him it was because he was just such a terrible roommate on Seliph’s behalf, which made Ares brood even more much to the amusement of everyone present.

Regardless, this meant that now Leif was the one getting haunted in a way. At least he can strike “having a paranormal roommate” off the bucket list that he doesn’t have. His only worry was how he was going to hide appearing like a schizophrenic in front of his parents now that Seliph would always be with him. Altena, of course, already knew about it so he didn’t need to worry about her, but his parents were completely in the dark. If they caught him talking to Seliph it would be a very uncomfortable situation explaining how he could see spirits while his parents insisted he was too old for imaginary friends. Or getting angry over him “pretending” that he can see and talk to his dead cousin, whichever his parents thought would be the appropriate reaction.

Leif could already visualize the huge argument he’d get into with his dad over it. It made him grimace as he, Altena, and Seliph walked home together. Well, he and Altena walked, anyways. Seliph tended to float around everywhere.

“Something on your mind?,” Seliph asked.

“I was just thinking about my parents,” Leif answered.

“Huh? What about mom and dad?,” Altena asked.

“Oh, I was just answering Seliph’s question,” Leif started. “He wanted to know what I was thinking about. If mom or dad catch me talking to him it’s going to lead to one painful conversation about how I’m ‘not a child anymore’ and that I’m ‘too old for imaginary friends’. And if I try to tell them about Seliph, they’ll just get upset and tell me to ‘stop lying for attention’.”

“Somehow, I feel like you’re imitating dad. If that does happen though, I’ll back you up in trying to convince them that you can see Seliph.”

“Thanks, sis.”

“What are your parents like?,” Seliph asked, curiosity getting the better of him. “I think I met them when I was really young, but I don’t remember them if I did. Well, I don’t remember much of anything at all, but…”

“Hey, don’t worry about it! You’ll get your memories back eventually,” Leif reassured his cousin.

“Thank you. I hope you’re right.”

“I know I’m right. Anyways,” Leif continued, “Mom is pretty awesome. She’s super nice and caring and she never yells at us- and not to mention her killer cooking- but her disappointment is the stuff of nightmares.”

“If you’re talking about Mom, you can’t forget how terrifying she is when she’s mad. She can make even Dad look soft,” Altena added.

“Yeah, like that time I was getting bullied in elementary school by a middle schooler and Mom verbally obliterated him on the spot,” Leif said. “She even chewed out his parents when they tried to defend their ‘precious angel’. I don’t think I’ve ever seen two full grown adults so ashamed of themselves in my life, but hey, I stopped getting bullied by that kid.”

“She even made them all cry.”

“They had it coming.”

“And that’s exactly why you got into so many fights as a kid.”

“It’s not my fault kids are assholes! And so are their parents!”

Seliph couldn’t help but laugh at the conversation. “It sounds like Aunt Ethlyn really loves and cares about you,” he commented.

“That’s why she’s the best mom ever!,” Leif proudly claimed. “And then there’s Dad.”

“Oh, wait, are you telling Seliph about our parents?,” Altena asked. Leif nodded, which made her snicker, “can’t wait to hear what you have to say about Dad, then.”

“Shut up!”

“Do you not get along with your father?,” Seliph asked Leif.

“I wouldn’t say I don’t get along with him,” Leif started, “but we don’t always see eye to eye with each other. He’s strict and can be kind of a hardass, but I know he cares. I just wish he’d go about some things differently.”

“He’s only a ‘hardass’ because he knows you’re smart and talented and can do better. Your grades in school aren’t exactly stellar and you tend to procrastinate a lot, especially with getting your driver’s li-”

“Shut. Up. I know that already! Dad nags at me about it enough, I don’t need you telling me that crap, too,” Leif whined. “Sorry I can’t be an overachiever like you, Altena.”

“I didn’t say you had to be. I’m just trying to tell you that Dad can see your potential and he sees how you’re squandering it.”

“Oh, I’ll show you my potential, when I shove it up your a-”

“Finish that sentence and I’ll tell mom about the time you broke her favorite tea set.”

“Wha- But that’s not fair! You were the one who started the pillow fight!”

Altena only laughed at her younger brother’s reaction to her threat.

“You’re evil,” Leif whined.

Seliph, silently watching the siblings bicker, wondered if he would’ve had a similar life if his parents were still around. Would his mother be just as loving as Ethlyn? Would his father push him to do better like Quan does for Leif? He supposed there was no point to thinking about it, he would never know.

~~~

“Welcome home! How was your day?”

When Leif and his little entourage finally returned home, they were greeted by Ethlyn and her familiar cheer as she sat wrapped in blankets on the couch watching a movie. It was a comforting sound to come home to after a long day of suffering in school or entangling oneself in the paranormal.

“It was good, just went to hang out at Ares’ place,” Leif answered his mother as he entered the living room.

“Both of you? That’s a surprise,” Ethlyn asked, obviously referring to Altena. “I wasn’t aware you had the same friends.”

“We don-”, Leif started before he was cut off by Altena elbowing him in the abdomen. If she thought he was going to somehow bring up the “Arion thing” in the conversation, she was absolutely correct. Damn her foresight. “I mean, uh, not really, but sometimes we hang out together anyways. Y’know, sibling bonding time or whatever.”

“Uh, alright then…,” Ethlyn said. It was a shitty lie, but it seemed to work well enough.

“Don’t worry, Mom. I made sure no one got into any trouble,” Altena clarified.

Leif grumbled under his breath, “You didn’t need to say it like that…”

“Well, anyways,” Ethlyn started, obviously trying to change the subject, “I’m making a roast for dinner. It’ll be awhile before it’s done though.”

“Yes! Your roasts are the best!,” Leif cheered. It was then that he felt a tap on his shoulder and remembered that Seliph was quietly and patiently waiting for Leif to finish the conversation. “Oh- But, uh, could I eat up in my room tonight?”

“No you may not. We always eat as a family,” Ethlyn said, her tone turning stern.

“Pretty please? I’ve got, er- I’ve got homework to do!”

“But it’s Spring break.”

“Oh, uh- you know my English teacher? Mr. August, the old fart who’s a real jerk? Yeah, he gave us an assignment to do over break and it’s kind of a big one, so I was hoping I could get it done as soon as possible,” Leif lied. Well, he lied about his assignment, but his English teacher really was a crusty bastard.

Ethlyn looked at him with a skeptical look, almost like she could easily see through his lie. Thankfully, Altena figured now would be a good time to speak up, “I had to do the same thing when I had that teacher. Besides, you and dad have been harping him about getting his work done, right? He’s only trying to do what you want him to.”

“I guess that’s true…,” Ethlyn trailed, her expression softening. “Ok, you can eat in your room tonight. But just for tonight, ok? Don’t work yourself too hard.”

“Thanks, mom!,” Leif said as he ran towards the stairs.

“And don’t forget to say hi to your father when he comes home!,” Ethlyn called out.

“Ok!” And with that, Leif holed himself up in his room, Seliph following behind.

Back in the living room, Ethlyn looked to Altena and asked a question, “Altena, is it just me, or did it feel like there was someone else here watching us?”

~~~

“Sorry about that, I kind of forgot you were here,” Leif apologized once he and Seliph were safe in the privacy of his room.

“It’s alright,” Seliph said. “I just wanted to tell you something, but I didn’t want to do it in front of Aunt Ethlyn.”

“What is it, then?”

“I think you get your sixth sense from your mother,” Seliph started. “It’s difficult to tell when I’m actively thinking about it, but it feels like she can sense spirits to an extent.”

“Really? I guess that makes sense, but crap. That’ll make keeping you a secret even harder,” Leif said. Seliph made a weird, thoughtful expression at that, so Leif added, “What’re you thinking about?”

“It’s just… Are you sure you want to take part in this investigation surrounding my father?,” Seliph asked. “At some point, you’ll probably have to break the news to your parents that I’ve passed away, even if they don’t believe that you can see me as a ghost. That’s not to mention the huge amount of trouble it’ll no doubt put you through.”

“Seliph, we’re cousins,” Leif started, tone deadly serious. “ I’m not gonna leave a family member to deal with this crap by themselves. Besides, no matter what happens, it’s going to be a mess anyways. We’ll just have to deal with it together and keep moving forward. Either way, I think it would be best if we managed to find a conclusion to this whole thing, even if it’s difficult or painful, rather than leave it to be an unsolved mystery forever.”

“Ah- Yeah, you’re right, sorry. And thank you for doing so much for me,” Seliph said, his demeanor cheering up a little.

Leif couldn’t help but blush and be embarrassed by Seliph’s sincerity. “Slow down there, I haven’t done anything yet! You can thank me AFTER I’ve actually solved your case.”

“Ok!”

“So, anyways, now what do we do? I kind of lied about the homework thing,” Leif admitted.

“I don’t know. This is your room, not mine.”

“Uh.” Leif didn’t think that far ahead. What was there to do? Sure there were a bunch of things in his room he could do, like play video games or watch anime, but Leif didn’t know what Seliph liked to do for fun. Plus, Leif was really curious about what ghosts could and could not do, so, “What’s it like being a ghost? I mean, can you phase through walls and do stuff besides possess me and float?”

“I have no idea,” Seliph answered. “I’ve only been aware that I’m a ghost for a few days.”

“Then I know what we’re going to do!,” Leif exclaimed. “We are going to perform ghost experiments.”

“Ghost experiments? Is that even a thing?”

“It is now! First experiment, can you phase through walls? That is what we are here to find out today,” Leif said, fully getting into the part of a mad scientist. Drama class is finally paying off. “Subject number one, are you prepared for the first examination of your abilities?”

“Are you referring to- Oh, er- Yes, I am! What should I do?,” Seliph asked, trying to play along.

Leif snickered as a devilish idea came to mind. “Altena’s room is next door-”

“Oh no.”

“-so you should phase through the wall and snoop on her.”

Seliph sighed. “You definitely fit the ‘mad scientist’ role, if that’s what you were going for. With a side of ‘cruel younger brother’.”

“Really? Thank you, I try. Drama’s just about the only class that I actually like and can get an A+ in.”

“Hey, I took drama in highschool, too! What a coincidence.”

“Hell yeah, you remembered something AND we’re both drama kids!” At that, the two cousins gave each other a high five. “Wait, we’re getting distracted from the experiments.”

“Oops. At least we accidentally found out that I can touch people without possessing them?,” Seliph tried.

“Now that you mentioned it, yeah, I guess you didn’t phase through me or possess me when we high fived,” Leif said. “That’s something I guess. Does that mean you can’t phase at all, or can you only phase when you want to?”

“Let’s find out.” And just like that, Leif watched as Seliph easily passed through the wall of his bedroom into Altena’s like it wasn’t even there. Just a moment later, Seliph passed back through and unceremoniously said, “Guess I can phase whenever I want.”

“Cool! That’ll probably end up being useful once the investigation actually gets going.”

“How so?”

“Well if we’re looking around somewhere and there’s a locked door or if we need someone to eavesdrop on other people, then you’d be perfect for the job,” Leif explained. “Only I can see you and you can go pretty much anywhere you want to without any obstacles. You’ll basically be like our spy.”

“I see. So are we getting assigned roles now? Like, I’m the spy, you’re the lead detective, Nanna is our occult expert, etcetera.”

“What would that make everyone else, then? It’s not like this is a horror movie or an HRPG.”

“What’s an HRPG?”

Leif gasped hearing that. “Good Gods man, you should’ve warned me that you were uncultured! HRPGs are a video game genre standing for Hoshidan Role Playing Game. It’s pretty much the best genre. Anyways, the point is they have tropes, just like movies do.”

“Ok, so, if we were in an HRPG, what tropes would we have?,” Seliph asked.

“I’m glad you asked!,” Leif excitedly declared. He didn’t exactly have a lot of friends he could talk to about his nerd crap. Even better was that Seliph seemed genuinely curious about it. “Obviously, I would be the super cool anime protagonist of our glorious HRPG. You’d be the deuteragonist who kicks off the inciting incident that leads the main cast of characters into the thick of the plot and becomes a beloved friend and member of the cast.”

“Really? You think I’d fit that important of a role?”

“I mean, yeah? Without you showing up at Ares’ apartment my friends and I wouldn’t have met you or gotten caught up in the mystery surrounding you. It’s just like the plot progression in an HRPG. Start somewhere simple, then something big happens to throw the characters into an unusual situation and then it progresses from there. The only difference is that we probably won’t end up killing God at the end.”

“Killing God?,” Seliph asked with a tilt of his head. “How does that even happen?”

“Eh, it makes more sense if you’re familiar with the genre. I have some HRPGs if you wanna try ‘em.”

“Uh, sure I guess! I haven’t played a lot of video games, though...”

“No worries! You’ve come to the expert on the subject! So, if I were new to HRPGs and gaming in general, I’d probably sta-” 

Just as Leif was about to continue regurgitating HRPG recommendations and info while digging though his game stash he heard the ever so subtle sound of someone walking up the stairs. It was a familiar, tell-tale signal that someone was coming closer and one he had trained himself to listen for. Always gonna be ready to pretend to sleep in case his parents came to tell him to go to bed.

“Crap, my mom’s coming! Act natural, er- I mean act like you aren’t here!,” Leif said. As fast as he could he threw himself into his desk chair with such force that it spun around until it was placed perfectly in front of his desk. What followed was a quick series of turning on his computer and furiously typing and clicking until he had opened a word document that already had several paragraphs on it. If one paid attention to what the document actually said, though, they’d notice it was just memes and gibberish past the first paragraph.

Right on time, Ethlyn opened the door with a plate of roast beef and a side of vegetables in her hand not a moment too soon. “How’s your homework going?,” she asked as she walked over and placed the plate on the desk.

“It’s going, I guess. I’m almost done with it and then I’m completely free for spring break!,” Leif easily lied. To keep his mother’s attention off of the subject, he added, “Hey, is dad home yet?”

The question made Ethlyn frown and sigh, “No and it’s looking like he won’t be coming home until late.”

“Let me guess: too busy with a case?”

Ethlyn nodded. “Yeah, a missing person’s case this time. It sounded like a pretty important one, too.”

“Dang… there’s been a lot of those lately,” Leif duly noted.

“I know and they’re mostly children to make matters worse. I probably shouldn’t worry, but be careful when you go out, ok?”

“I know, mom. I always am.”

“Just making sure. Good night and don’t stay up too late!”

“I won’t! Good night!”

And with that Ethlyn left Leif’s room, leaving the teen and his dead cousin to their own devices. For about two seconds before she popped back in and asked, “Sorry, I don’t mean to bother you and this’ll probably sound crazy, but… is there someone else in here?”

“Wha- N-No, there’s nobody. It’s just me in here,” Leif lied.

“Altena told me the same thing…,” Ethlyn said to herself. “Hm. Oh well. Good night for real this time!”

“Good night for real this time!”

And when Ethlyn finally left once and for all, Leif let out a sigh of relief. “That was close. Guess she really can sense Seliph…”

“Missing person’s case?,” the aforementioned ghost asked.

“Huh? Oh,” Leif gracefully responded as he spun in his chair to face his cousin. “Yeah, my dad’s a detective. I probably should’ve mentioned that earlier. It’s pretty common for him to not come home because his work keeps him busy.”

“Oh, I think Altena mentioned something about Uncle Quan working on a case regarding Father during the last seance. I wonder… Do you think our fathers worked together?,” Seliph asked. “I mean, mine was a police officer and yours is a detective, so it’s not impossible.”

“Now that you mention it, that makes a lot of sense!,” Leif exclaimed. “I mean, I figured dad would have some sort of information regarding Uncle Sigurd that wouldn’t be publicly available- that’s why I raided his office for those newspapers- but I never thought they would’ve worked together. I don’t know why it didn’t occur to me before.”

“Then that case I read about in the newspaper you showed me… Were they both tasked with looking into the dealings of that cult?”

“But they never figured out what cult was the exact perpetrator before Uncle Sigurd was murdered. Or maybe it was BECAUSE Uncle Sigurd was murdered that they never found out.”

“I think I get what you’re getting at. My father was killed by the cult members to cover their tracks, likely because he knew too much about them and what they were doing,” Seliph explained. “Because of his untimely death it’s possible the investigation was ended if he were the only one to have any clues to the true identity and workings of the cult in question. Yet nothing I read in the paper mentioned anything about there being a possible cult investigation beforehand, just that a cult was involved. In fact, the cult was barely even acknowledged at all in the article talking about my father’s death. And none of the other papers you showed me could point to such a prior investigation either, the dates were proof of that.”

“It would be weird for a cult that would go to the lengths of burning a man alive to not be under investigation already. Surely, they would have done something before to garner attention, otherwise I can’t imagine what sort of bullshit must’ve occurred for this to happen. The question is, why would they continue to keep said investigation a secret? Especially after someone died because of it. Even after the article mentioned that he was investigating the cult, it mentioned nothing else about it. It’s almost like it’s being thrown aside and ignored on purpose.”

“Right, but the point I’m getting at is that, if our fathers were investigating it together, then it’s highly likely that Uncle Quan was ‘reassigned’ to investigate my father’s death. In which case, why would he have crucial evidence locked away in his own house, easily accessible by his own children?”

“It… doesn’t add up,” Leif realized. “The only explanation is that my dad would’ve kept them around here because he was trying to perform his own personal investigation. That’s even what I first thought was going on when I found the stack of newspapers.”

“Then that leaves a few options. Either Uncle Quan was working on the case officially before it was declared cold and kept looking into it in his own free time or my Father’s death never led to an actual investigation and was left to be unsolved on purpose. The cult issue is being ignored on purpose, just like you said.”

“ARGH! It’s all so complicated and yet none of this helps us!,” Leif groaned. “It’s all pure speculation so far, even if there is a bit of evidence behind these theories. But we won’t know if any of what we just talked about is true unless we straight up ask my dad. And there's no way I’m gonna ask him because he’ll figure out what I’m trying to do with even the tiniest hint I give him.”

“Not to mention that we’ll have to keep everyone who’s in on this up to speed on anything we figure out,” Seliph added.

“Yeah that, too. Even if it all were true, then how would it help us? It still doesn’t point us in the direction of a clear subject or subjects. The only solid lead we have is you, but you can’t remember anything that could help.”

“Sorry…”

“No, don’t apologize,” Leif sighed. “It’s not like you chose to die and lose your memories.”

“But if I could just figure out how to get them back, we’d practically be on the doorstep of an answer.”

“You’ll get them back, eventually. Just- Let’s just drop it for tonight and figure it out later.”

“Ok… if you say so.”

A moment passed. Then another.

“So, uh, what games did you want me to try out?”

Leif immediately perked up at hearing Seliph ask for his gaming suggestions. What followed was several hours of showing Seliph the beauty of HRPGs while eating dinner until late into the night. It served to be a nice distraction from the complicated mystery that presented itself in a shroud of fog, at least until Leif couldn’t stay awake anymore. He couldn’t help but fall asleep with thoughts of how to approach the incoming investigation and dreamed of ghosts and hellish cults.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope this isn't turning out with too weird of a pacing or too OoC, but I mean. For the OoC thing, it's a difficult situation since, while technically the same character, a Leif who grew up with a happy family in the modern century without having to worry about war constantly or live his life as an orphan on the run in a land where just about everyone wants him dead would not end up the same as the Leif who did go through all those things. I can only hope that I can adequately portray what these characters would be like were they to be part of such a vastly different universe without straying from their core personality traits too much. Basically, this is a long winded way of me saying that you can't change my stance on the idea that Leif would 100% be a massive fucking weeb zoomer.
> 
> As always, please leave a kudo and a comment letting me know what you think! Thank you for reading and putting up with my god awful upload "schedule". I am very slow, gomen.


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